Emma Watson threat looks like it was a marketing hoax

[pnwmom]

20. No, the "pranksters" weren't a marketing firm -- the firm was fake. But the pain to Watson was real.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/09/rantic-marketing-4chan-emma-watson-leak-hoax.html

How a Fake Viral Marketing Firm Convinced the Internet 4Chan Was Going to Leak Nude Photos of Emma Watson

Rantic itself doesn't actually exist, but is instead the work of the prolific pranksters behind another countdown hoax. Made up of people who go by the names Jacob Povolotski, Yasha Swag, Swenzy, and Joey B, the group is occasionally referred to as "Social VEVO." Last year, Social VEVO ripped copyrighted materials from Fox and created a similar countdown clock that promised to reveal information about Brian from Family Guy. That, too, was a hoax.

Convincing the internet that anonymous men would punish women with sexual and violent threats turns out to be remarkably easy, and that’s because it's completely within the realm of possibility. The fake Rantic expertly manipulated the internet outrage cycle, not because the mainstream media “listen[s] and believe[s] the feminist victimization narrative,” as one particularly obnoxious Reddit user put it, but precisely because women are regularly victimized online. Povolotski and team also managed to take advantage of 4chan’s terrible reputation and turn it against them: Of course 4chan would punish an outspoken feminist by publishing her nudes, people thought. That’s what 4chan does.

In the end, for Watson, the threat still existed, even if it didn't come from 4chan, and the message was clear: Speak out as a woman about gender equality and you'll be punished. In this way, Rantic's actions are almost as indefensible as 4chan's. Both compounded the feeling that women are not safe on the internet.